Page 58 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.73, # 1, 2016, pp. 52-63

Being part of the mechanisms under Trow‘s ―virtuous circle‖, Penn State‘s
global affairs and international partnerships are also positively influenced by
international students and scholars as well as study abroad programs. It resulted in
the Global Engagement Network (GEN) that is the core component of Penn State‘s
strategy for globalization. GEN is a ―network of strategic partnerships peer
institutions around the world that share Penn State's commitment to solving the
world's most pressing challenges through a multi-layered engagement of research,
faculty, and student collaboration‖ (Global Penn State, 2016).
GEN expands access to regional networks of intellectual capital, resources,
and funding, and it provides opportunities for student engagement that builds global
citizenship and leadership. Moe importantly, GEN leverages Penn State‘s
intellectual resources with those of other major research universities around the
world. All these enable Penn State to address major global challenges like energy,
global health, food security, ecological problems, and economic sustainability
(Global Penn State, 2016). Of course, all of the global affairs related issues are
directly promoting Penn State‘s international image and global university ranking
primarily connected with both the quality of faculty (Trow, 1984) and the quality of
students (Winston, 1999).
According to Institute for International Education (IIE), the total number of
international students in the world was 4.5 million in 2014. There is a five times
increase between 1975 and 2014, and the total number doubled during last decade.
More importantly, the U.S. hosted 22% of those 4.5 million students worldwide who
are pursuing higher education outside their home countries (2015 Project Atlas,
2016). Penn State is playing an important role in above-mentioned increase of share
of the U.S. on the one hand. And on the other hand, Penn State is getting highly
influenced from the continued process of internationalization in higher education.
Penn State has concluded 230 partnership agreements so far, where 104 are active,
and 53 are truly active.
Rational and natural systems
The structure of central university unit shows that UOGP is totally formalized.
In this regard, we may characterize it as a ―rational system‖ in general. Directorate
of International Student & Scholar Advising, Directorate of Education Abroad, and
Directorate of Student Engagement & Operations are UOGP‘s main subunits that
directly report to Vice Provost for Global Programs. Additionally, acting separately
under UOGP, Global Finance & Business manager, Global Engagement Network
director, Campus Engagement director, and Strategic Initiatives director also report
to the Vice Provost. There is a clear reporting and coordination system within the
UOGP. All staff members [I interviewed Dr. Michael Adewumi, Vice Rector for

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